Pei Heng still remembers the scene when he first brought Pei Leyun back.

The family was overjoyed—not because Pei Heng had adopted a child or done a good deed, but simply because they felt reassured that disaster wouldn't befall them.

Pei Heng held Pei Leyun's hand, and all he remembered was that it was an extremely cold hand.

At that time, Pei Leyun couldn't speak, but no one in the entire Pei family mansion seemed to find it strange. On several occasions, Pei Heng even saw the old lady's confidantes trembling and saying something to Pei Leyun in a flattering manner.

Even knowing the Pei family's secrets, their religious offerings, and even the rumors that their special physical constitution was for the purpose of worshipping these things—

That was no easy thing to deal with. He had once heard the old woman devoutly calling out the name "Mona" in the ancestral hall, which was said to mean twins in their language.

Pei Heng could see Pei Lejun standing there whenever he passed by the ancestral hall.

He looked at the strange statue enshrined by the Pei family, saying nothing and showing little expression. Pei Heng told himself that it was all nonsense, that Pei Leyun was actually a good child, but that the Pei family had all gone mad.

Fortunately, everything returned to normal when Pei Leyun turned 7 years old.

By then, the old lady had already passed away, and Pei Leyun was suddenly able to speak—he looked just like countless normal children, his hands and feet were no longer cold and stiff, and he could even be described as innocent and kind.

It wasn't until summer vacation that Uncle Sun secretly approached Pei Heng and said that the tutor had said Pei Leyun was acting a bit strange.

Pei Heng was busy with work at that time and spent most of his time on airplanes... He rarely came back that day, and he hadn't slept for two days in a row. Even a person of iron couldn't hold on. He loosened his tie and threw it aside, then asked Uncle Sun, "Just tell me."

Uncle Sun accompanied Pei Leyun to class, so he naturally knew that Pei Leyun often spaced out during class.

He was looking at the textbook, but he wasn't listening to the teacher at all... but when the teacher actually asked a question, he was able to answer it.

Pei Heng didn't seem to mind. "He's just a kid," he said.

They simply assumed that Pei Leyun had poor concentration.

Uncle Sun seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

Pei Heng looked at him and said, "You can just say it."

"...That teacher resigned." Uncle Sun hesitated for a moment before speaking. He had worked for the Pei family for many years, having followed Pei Heng out of the old house. He knew what the Pei family secretly worshipped and believed in.

He originally thought Pei Leyun was spacing out, so he wanted to tap Pei Leyun on the shoulder to scare him.

"But……"

"He patted Pei Lejun on the shoulder, and the young master actually collapsed."

Uncle Sun's expression was grim, as if he could still recall the teacher's terrified and broken state.

"I didn't do anything!!!" the man shouted, grabbing at Uncle Sun's clothes.

'I just patted him on the shoulder...'

Pei Leyun died...

When Uncle Sun recounted the story to Pei Heng, his expression wasn't very pleasant. It was unclear whether he felt the story would sound bad if it got out, or simply that he thought his teacher had misread it.

Pei Heng didn't care what he thought, "Where's Pei Leyun?"

“In the room,” Uncle Sun said cautiously.

Pei Heng had only changed half of his clothes, but he could only go to Pei Leyun's room to look at her... Because it was getting late, Pei Leyun was already fast asleep. Pei Heng turned on the light and took a closer look, and could feel Pei Leyun's chest rising and falling with her breath.

So he left again, and Uncle Sun found the video recording from that time.

In the scene, Pei Leyun is looking down at the textbook in her hands, clearly distracted.

The young teacher patted him on the shoulder, seemingly trying to scare him, but unexpectedly Pei Leyun's body just fell straight to the ground—his body was stiff, his limbs were rigid, and he didn't look like a living person at all.

The teacher seemed startled as well.

He patted Pei Leyun's shoulder a few times, and when she didn't move, he hurriedly looked into her eyes.

Finally, he cautiously reached his hand below Pei Lejun's nose... Pei Heng watched as he took a few steps back, accidentally bumping into things around him, and then hurriedly ran out of the room.

"The young master recovered in the evening," Uncle Sun said.

This means that Pei Leyun's body was stiff for a period of time.

But Uncle Sun didn't call the doctor... Pei Heng felt a little annoyed and also found it somewhat ridiculous. He felt that it seemed that no one in the Pei family, except him, treated Pei Leyun as a normal person.

It was as if they all knew that Pei Leyun was a "freak" and not a normal child.

So even if he suddenly stops breathing, you can't call a doctor, otherwise some things will be exposed.

"Never mind," Pei Heng said.

"If he doesn't want to go to class, then he doesn't have to."

It wasn't until he heard Meng Yunqiu's words inside the apartment that Pei Heng realized what Pei Leyun had been doing when she was "daydreaming."

“No matter what you think,” Pei Heng said to Cen Yu, “I’ve always seen Pei Leyun as an ordinary child.”

Therefore, his thinking has always been very simple.

She had to deal with her uncle's unreasonable demands in her dream and ensure that Pei Leyun grew up smoothly.

But it wasn't until Pei Leyun passed away that he realized some things weren't as he thought... Pei Leyun's marriage partner and his uncle's inexplicable ghost marriage partner were actually the same person.

"I still don't understand."

Pei Heng said to Cen Yu, "How could there be such a coincidence in the world?"

This is what he has wanted to ask ever since Pei Lejun died.

In his original plan, Pei Leyun was dead. He was already dissatisfied with his adopted son's marriage partner, so he just wanted to scare him and make him get out of the Pei family.

But in the mourning hall, Cen Yu's birth date and time shattered all of this.

Both emotionally and logically, he couldn't possibly ignore Cen Yu.

Because if it weren't for the marriage certificate that was burned back then, Cen Yu wouldn't have been able to establish contact with Pei Baijun. That's what Pei Heng told himself, and that's what he believed.

“But there’s still one thing I don’t understand.” Pei Heng said, as if talking to himself, yet also as if asking Cen Yu.

Why did Pei Baijun give the old lady that birth date and time?

If you calculate the time, Cen Yu was only born not long ago that year, a fact that Pei Heng never understood.

Even if you ask Pei Baijun, you'll only get a few stubborn replies—

"She is my wife."

"My wife whom I married."

Words that sound like a broken record.

Pei Heng looked at Cen Yu and noticed that Cen Yu hadn't spoken for a long time... When he looked closer, he saw blood flowing from the corner of the other's mouth.

He suddenly felt a little flustered and immediately quickened his pace forward—

Cen Yu suddenly grinned at him, but because there was blood in his mouth, he looked rather ferocious.

Pei Heng knew something was wrong. The next second, Cen Yu leaped up and pinned him to the ground.

“…I said.” Cen Yu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, “Chen Wei’s method is indeed quite effective.”

He grabbed Pei Heng by the neck, demanding, "Where is Pei Baijun?"